This previous piece provides a helpful framework and outlines some of the most important factors to consider while transitioning to a paperless board. We’ll take a step back and analyze WHY a board would want to host paperless meetings in the first place in this piece.
What are the benefits of holding paperless board meetings?
Clearly, going paperless benefits the environment, and that is reason enough to do it. However, there are other short-term benefits in addition to the environmental benefits. One client reported saving over $100,000 per year on paper-related expenses, book assembly, and international shipping costs. Meetings using digital resources also allow for more timely and adaptable material. Instead of requiring days or even weeks of lead time for manufacturing and distribution, information may be made accessible to the board in real time. Similarly, old information may be swiftly and readily replaced with the most up-to-date intelligence. Even the most ardent supporters of the paper recognize and agree with these facts.
Even more persuasive are the numerous things that can be done extremely successfully in a digital world but will never be possible with paper. Using paper:
Linking
There is no method for boards to cross-reference and relate issues in a practical way. Governing bodies must integrate complicated concepts and information in an agile manner in their function as sense-makers for an organization. This is achievable because of digital technology, but it is just not possible in paper form.
Search
Quick searches are impossible to do on paper. Meanwhile, the proliferation and acceleration of information means that boards now have access to more data than ever before, and rapid, comprehensive search skills are vital to their capacity to manage. Directors must sift through massive volumes of data in order to rapidly and confidently access and act on the most critical information. Searching on the internet is really beneficial.
Analysis
There is no use history on paper to help identify trends. Digital materials, on the other hand, give many different types of “data exhaust,” allowing for examination of board materials and how they assist the board’s function.
Several Words
A thousand words are worth a thousand pictures, and a million words are worth a million pictures. Unfortunately, non-text / visual material such as music, video, or animation cannot be accommodated in paper. As these communication forms grow more common across boards, digital administration of such materials is becoming increasingly important.
Final Thoughts
To promote paperless meetings, any of these examples may be weaved into a digital board book. As a result, these use cases show how paperless meetings may help boards remove their limitations and really transform the way they THINK – by altering how they organize, save, share, consume, and evaluate information. This is the true reason why paperless board meetings are being considered.
To enhance the meeting management process, Leonteq began looking for and assessing a variety of options. The firm prepared a list of obligatory criteria that were deemed necessary for the new solution’s effective implementation. The future supplier must assure user friendliness, quick and easy user setup, continual solution maintenance, and a short implementation period.
The meeting management software was one of several vendors and products asked to demonstrate, and it was ultimately chosen as the best option to satisfy the company’s demands.